June 18, 2021
By Brennan Mense
JOPLIN, MO—Down 6-2 through 4 1/2 innings, the Joplin Outlaws notched two seven-run frames in three innings and roared past the Chillicothe Mudcats for a second-straight 16-6 win which was decided by run rule in the seventh inning.
Joplin (7-5) swept the two-game set behind seven stolen bases and a balanced attack that saw 11 hits distributed among all nine batters, while Chillicothe (4-8) walked nine batters, hit three more, and struck out 12 times at the plate as they dropped their fifth-straight contest.
For the second-straight night, the Mudcats took a first-inning lead as Payton Allen led off the game with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, then scored on a throwing error by Lawson Faria.
Joplin, however, immediately responded to take the lead, thanks in part to a wild inning from Chillicothe starter Logan Snow. Snow walked three, hit one, and had an error committed behind him in a 30-pitch inning, which resulted in two Joplin runs. Logan Cline came home on the front end of a double steal and Brandon Ulmer launched an RBI double to give the Outlaws a 2-1 advantage.
That score held through the fourth inning as Snow and Joplin starter Jeremiah Kennedy settled into a pitcher's duel, trading zeroes over the next three innings.
However, Kennedy blinked first as he loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth, then issued a walk and a single to surrender the lead, giving way to Gavin Heltemes, who inherited a 3-2 deficit with one out and the bases still loaded in his Joplin debut.
Following a strikeout, Tanner Sears roped a three-run triple to center that capped off a five-run fifth, in the process giving Chillicothe a 6-2 lead.
The lead wouldn't even make it to the sixth, though, as Snow began the bottom of the inning with a walk and two hit batters to load the bases, handing over a massive jam to reliever Cole Mammenga.
Mammenga failed to stem the tide, issuing four bases-loaded walks sandwiched around a Cam Pfafman RBI single. Cline put a bow on a seven-run inning with a two-run single that put Joplin up 9-6.
Pitching with the lead, Heltemes locked down the Mudcats' offense, striking out six consecutive batters as he set down the side on strikes in both the sixth and seventh innings.
That would be all he needed to as Joplin put together another seven-run rally to end the game in the bottom of the inning. This rally epitomized the balance of the Joplin offense, as the seven runs were driven in by seven different batters. The final one came off the bat of Pfafman, who finished off the contest with an RBI single to right-center that wrapped a two-game sweep of the Mudcats in emphatic fashion.
Cline led the offense with two hits, two runs, two stolen bases, and three RBI, while Brett Weimers, Ulmer, Faria, and Pfafman all drove in a pair of runs. Five different Outlaws chipped in to the seven-steal effort, which tied a season high.
Kennedy tied the longest outing by an Outlaw this season, going 4.1 innings, allowing six runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Gavin Heltemes (1-0) earned the win as he worked the final 2.2 innings, allowing one hit and striking out seven, tying a season high for a Joplin hurler.
With Joplin's cancellation against the Show-Me League on Saturday, they will return to action on Sunday at Jefferson City. Their next home game and our next broadcast will be a Monday night tilt with Nevada at Joe Becker Stadium. First pitch is at 7:00 p.m. and will be available on UclickTV on pay-per-view, as well as all Joplin Outlaws and MINK League season passes.
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